


Now Hiring

by psiten



Series: SASO 2016 Fills [10]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, 弱虫ペダル | Yowamushi Pedal
Genre: Challenge: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics | SASO 2016, Crossover, First Meetings, Future Fic, Gen, Grand Unified Theory of Sports Anime, Street & Stage Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 14:10:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12936936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psiten/pseuds/psiten
Summary: Original prompt: Remember when popular stage magician Kinjou Shingo got a lovely new assistant?It wasn't that Kinjou begrudged Kanzaki the chance to follow her dreams as a bike-jumping daredevil on the extreme sports circuit -- he supported her decision and would never ask her to change it! But at the same time, that left him with a countdown clock on finding a new assistant who could handle his routines with grace and could keep her mouth shut about what went into making his illusions work.Another import from the backlog pile! Enjoy!





	Now Hiring

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inelegantly (Lir)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lir/gifts).



     Absolutely no one.

     That was how many qualified people had turned up at the auditions Kinjou was holding for a new assistant. It wasn't that he begrudged Kanzaki the chance to follow her dreams as a bike-jumping daredevil on the extreme sports circuit -- he supported her decision and would never ask her to change it! But at the same time, that left him with a countdown clock on finding a new assistant who could handle his routines with grace and could keep her mouth shut about what went into making his illusions work.

     The lines of prospective assistants were pretty enough, to be sure, and some of them were more than capable of handling the minor tasks he'd asked them to perform for the audition. The rope escape, the trick goldfish... little things that people would enjoy watching because of the danger or the flash, even if there were a little spill to the public about how they were done. Nothing major, of course. None of his trademarks. But every single one of them had failed the secret test.

     When his ingénieur, Makishima, had posed as a passerby ready to be impressed by someone who'd come out of a magician's workshop, every single girl and boy had said far too much about what had gone on inside. Which was to say, they had said anything at all. Without secrecy, there was no magic.

     He sighed into his bowl of soba noodles and checked his watch to see how long until his lunch break was over. There was another round of auditions this afternoon, but at this rate, he didn't have much hope.

     "Honestly!" A young lady murmured as she came in the door. "Do the youth today have no common sense? You never tell a magician's secrets!"

     The first thing Kinjou noticed about her was that she held herself like a showperson. The second thing he noticed, when she took off her sunglasses, was that she was both objectively stunning and somewhat familiar looking. Physically, she'd be a top-notch candidate for the job of she were here to take one of the afternoon auditions. She'd capture the audience's attention like a charm.

     "You're very well informed," Kinjou said, pulling out the lady's chair so she could sit.

     She handled the unexpected attention like a pro, too, not batting an eyelash. Instead, she adopted the polite smile of someone who was totally out of some random skirt chaser's league and sat down as if nothing were wrong. "I'd be embarrassed not to know that much," she said, and pointedly studied the menu on the wall as if to say their conversation was over. He liked this one.

     "Of course," he answered, and put on his hat. "Well, I'm sure your audition will go better than the others, then."

     The lady smiled again, as good as telling him he'd get nothing out of her so he might as well leave, while remaining perfectly polite. It wasn't until he was at the door that he heard what sounded like her whispering, "As if I would!" under her breath.

     Time to stop acting like a nobody. Kinjou turned back the way he came, and just as the lady raised her eyes to question why he was coming back, he flipped his business card out from his sleeve in a way specifically designed to appear as if it came out of nowhere. An old trick, but eye-catching if done well, and the least a person would expect of a man introducing himself as a professional magician, especially when he needed to give someone a reason to pay attention.

     "Forgive me, madam. I neglected to introduce myself. Kinjou Shingo -- illusionist, escapologist, mentalist, and currently a man in search of a trustworthy assistant. I'm disappointed to hear that you won't be auditioning for my show, Miss...?"

     "Sonoda Umi." She took his card, and offered one of her own. Currently a student at the local university, so it would seem, but he remembered that name. Part of what a man did when he regularly needed to recruit talent was keep an eye on the world of young performers, and he would've been remiss indeed to forget one of the top stars of the School Idol circuit. "I'm afraid the... time commitments of stage life are too extreme for me to consider it as a career."

     She'd been planning to say something else. He could hear it, because the stage life never really let you go. And his research gave him a fairly good idea what that thing was.

     "I think you meant to say that the _skirts_ of stage life are too extremely short, Sonoda Umi-san of the μ's School Idol Group."

     Her eyes went wide, a look he was very used to seeing. "How did you--?"

     "Magician, remember? And if you pass this audition, which I think you will, I'll let you set the length of your own skirt. Or pants, if you prefer."

     As soon as he saw she was thinking about it, Kinjou knew he had her. It helped that he was a well-known act, no doubt, rather than some street corner charlatan. Finally, she said. "Very well. I have the afternoon free. I'll attend the auditions."

     "I look forward to it, Sonoda-san."

     Victory, as always, was his.


End file.
